Different than Expected
by vratsababe
Summary: As the Ministry goes to raid Malfoy Manor for dark objects, the new trainee Harry Potter discovers the Malfoys might be more human than he thought.


This is an old one I wrote a while back but I read it again and I realized it's one of my favorites... perhaps because the third person limited pertains to Mister Potter. :D A different viewpoint for my favorite couple!

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"The Malfoys don't know we're coming today, but Lucius knows we're coming sometime soon," Kingsley said as he led his team of Aurors down a long lane surrounded by trees. He wiped his hand across his brow, more impatiently than from the early morning heat. "He agreed to it, after all. He and the family could have hidden everything we need to find by now."

Since the calamity following the battle at Hogwarts was beginning to lessen slowly, the Ministry had begun to get to its feet. One of the things the Ministry needed to take care of first was the potentially large pool of dark objects still in circulation. They had successfully raided the houses of a few of Voldemort's most devoted followers, including Chateau Lestrange in Normandy and their corresponding vault in London. One of the big ones they hadn't searched yet was Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire, the one Lucius Malfoy himself confessed to being Voldemort's headquarters through the previous summer. There was no doubt that the large manor likely held a bounty of Voldemort's personal property and the Ministry needed it destroyed.

They turned a corner onto a narrower, private driveway and looked astounded at the gateway opened wide as if the residents of the house had been expecting company. Kingsley shrugged his shoulders; this was a sign that the Malfoys really _did _know they were coming and it annoyed him. Harry fell into step beside him as he quickened his pace. In the sunlight, the path wasn't nearly as intimidating, yet it still filled him with trepidation as he remembered being dragged up the gravel lane. A scream-like noise sounded behind him and the team turned abruptly. To their relief, it was just an albino peacock flaring its feathers angrily at them. It seemed bored, however, as they turned back to continue towards the house and jumped back onto the hedge's top and strolled lazily in the opposite direction. The team approached the large door and Kingsley raised a large hand and knocked on the serpentine knocker.

The door creaked open lazily and Narcissa Malfoy stood framed in the doorway. She wore an elaborate house coat of deep purple and her hair was pulled simply back from her face as if she had just woken up, "Ah, yes. We've been expecting Ministry wizards to stop by; we just didn't know to expect anyone so early. Come in, please."

She held the door open for Kingsley to take and the other eight members of their party filed into the large entryway. Turning back to them briefly she said simply, "It's nearly seven, I believe, and no one in the house is awake yet, save for me, if you'll only give me a moment to wake my husband and son… feel free to search the ground floor; you'll find nothing, of course, but feel free."

Narcissa Malfoy glided up the stairwell gracefully and disappeared into the bowels of the house. Kingsley faced his team, "We'll split up into pairs. Holden, you take Harry with you."

"Of course, Sir," Holden nodded respectfully and pointed Harry towards the left wing of the house. "This way, Harry?"

"Sure," Harry shrugged. He was in training unofficially. After the war and even beforehand he knew that he wanted to work in the Auror Department and although things were still too hectic to jump right into training, Kingsley had allowed Harry to shadow Holden Brighton. Holden was young with sandy brown hair and an almost Percy-esque attitude, although slightly more humble. He took his job seriously and if Harry hadn't been the one to defeat the Dark Lord, he probably wouldn't have wanted him anywhere near him while carrying out his work. Nevertheless, here they were in Malfoy Manor, cracking open a door to a large circular room.

The deep blue walls were full of light from the windows whose curtains stood pulled back with gold cords. A piano covered in dust sat depressingly in the center on top of an equally sad looking rug. The room hadn't been used in at least a year, he could deduce from the amount of dust sitting on the surfaces. A few boxes sat open as if the person who used the room most frequently had begun to store items away for safekeeping, but got distracted. Harry peered out the window on the west most side of the room. The hedges that lined the driveway gave way to an expansive patch of rolling emerald green grass. The fountain he had heard trickled joyously in the morning light, glimmering silver against marble, water against stone. Rose bushes in every color lined the grass and no less than seven albino peacocks roamed around lazily, abandoning their bowers in the trees and strolling aristocratically across the dew glazed grass. Movement from Holden brought him back into the room.

"I don't have anything for you to really do, well, except for you to pay attention to what I am doing," He said, not looking at Harry, but taking a strange device from his pocket. He waved it along the shelves in the room and along the nearby curtains like a metal detector. Harry sat down on the piano bench and watched Holden until something caught his eye.

In a box near his feet lay a stack of letters and a few picture frames. Overwhelmed with simple curiosity, Harry pulled one of the frames from the box and looked at its picture. The picture was of Draco in his Quidditch robes, covered with mud and clutching the Snitch. He held his Nimbus Two-Thousand-and-One in his left hand and smiled smugly with his goggles pushed into his white blonde hair. Harry rolled his eyes and replaced the picture into the box. He retrieved another and turned it over in his hands. This picture was a bit different. Lucius sat in a chair, dozing comfortably, with baby Draco curled up and sleeping on his chest. Harry was surprised with the candid nature of the picture. He had never really expected the Malfoys to be a real family; then again, he had seen them on the night at Hogwarts and they had surprised him then tremendously.

Holden was still moving his device around the room. Harry pulled another picture from the box. It was a picture of Narcissa and Lucius, just about his age, in Hogwarts robes with Head badges tacked onto their black school robes. They were sitting in the Great Hall, making faces and laughing at the camera. Lucius stuck his tongue out at Narcissa and she laughed, rolling her eyes and smiled brightly out at him. He had no idea Lucius and Narcissa had even known each other that long or had even gone to Hogwarts at the same time. A note was tucked into the back of the frame and it fell into Harry's hand as if it wanted him to read it. He unfolded the weathered creases, knowing full well he was being far too nosy for this assignment, and read the quick writing on the parchment.

_Cissa,_

_I got this picture from Severus and I thought you might like it. I forgot we had taken it—I'm hoping this is the only copy, as we're making complete fools of ourselves. (Third years should not be allowed cameras). I hope you'll be coming over for Easter—Mother is expecting to meet this wonderful girl I've mentioned. Lunch in Hogsmeade this afternoon?_

_Love always, Luce_

He stuffed the note back into the frame back as he heard footsteps in the hall outside and stood hastily from the bench, brushing dust from the back of his robes. Holden turned to Harry, "Nothing in here… why are you standing all of a sudden? You look like you walked through a ghost."

Harry shook his head, brushing off Holden's faux concerns and looked to the doorway. No one was there, but he remembered he really wasn't in the house for snooping. Moments later, Kingsley came into the room to fetch the younglings, "We've got what we needed, boys."

"Already?" Holden raised an eyebrow in surprise. Kingsley nodded, "They handed over all of the items we had expected and then some. It seems as though the house is mostly clear as my more experienced Aurors have told me."

"Oh," Holden fell silent, pocketing the device.

Lucius Malfoy appeared in the doorway, also in a house coat of deep black velvet over burgundy silk pajamas. Kingsley looked as if he would have rather Lucius not complied, but he couldn't disagree to the ridiculous sums of Galleons he had given to the war relief in the past two months. He swallowed and offered a hand to Lucius, "Thank you very much for your cooperation, Malfoy."

"Of course," Harry was almost relieved to see the snooty falseness in Lucius's demeanor once again. He saw only the aristocratic, arrogant father of his former classmate rather than the Death Eater he had seen in the graveyard and he knew he hadn't mistaken pardoning the family, at least not yet. Lucius looked at Harry as he passed, giving him a mild look of annoyance at having been woken up by Ministry officials, but none of the malice. Actually, Harry had a greater scope of the Malfoys now, especially having seen a glimpse of what they possessed on the inside rather than the porcelain outsides they gave the rest of the world. The Malfoys were people, after all, even if he still wasn't particularly fond of them.


End file.
